As the region edges towards another drought, Northland MP Winston Peters wants Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy to visit the region as soon as possible to see just how dry things have become.
Parched land with next to no rain for nearly two months is forcing Northland farmers to reduce their stock and pray for at least 100mm of rain before the end of January.
And there is a very real possibility that drought will be declared in Northland if the current dry spell continues for another two to three weeks. If a drought is declared it will be the fifth in Northland in the past eight years.
Mr Peters, the NZ First Leader, said he had sent a letter to Mr Guy inviting him to the region to see how dry Northland has turned.
Mr Guy was in the region in February 2013 checking out how dry it was then, before declaring a drought.
"Virtually all of Northland is much drier than normal at this time of the year, with much of the region now running soil moisture deficits of 130mm plus," Mr Peters said.
"This is why I wrote to the minister inviting him to see for himself. With dairy prices not much above break-even and beef prices sliding, drought is the last thing Northland needs. While there's not much we can do to make it rain, the Government can fund advisory services through the Northland Rural Support Trust while IRD can show flexibility around filing and income equalisation."
He said in the long term for Northland, water storage is the way forward "because we do not want for rain here, just the means to store and use it.
"Until irrigation comes forward, 98.7 per cent of Northland's farmland is reliant upon the sky to deliver water but drought concerns here are mounting," Mr Peters said.
Mr Guy said he has received Mr Peters' invitation and had been following the conditions in the North closely while receiving updates from the Northland Rural Support Trust (RST) and his officials.
"The RST is arranging a meeting of primary industry sector groups next week to discuss the challenges this dry period is creating on farm. A wider meeting is planned following that," Mr Guy said.
"I look forward to an update from these meetings and catching up with some affected Northland farmers in the near future. It's a cruel twist that while Northland's farmers are crying out for rain, some farmers elsewhere across the country are preparing for the onset of too much rain.
"This highlights the importance of water storage - something this Government has been a strong advocate and supporter of."
A drought can be declared by Niwa as an "adverse event", which then kicks in a number of support mechanisms from the Government.